THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

SENATE BILL

INTRODUCED BY ORIE, EICHELBERGER, SCARNATI, ALLOWAY, BRUBAKER, FERLO, FONTANA, MENSCH, ROBBINS, SMUCKER, M. WHITE AND WOZNIAK, FEBRUARY 4, 2011

REFERRED TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT, FEBRUARY 4, 2011  

AN ACT

Amending the act of July 31, 1968 (P.L.805, No.247), entitled,

as amended, "An act to empower cities of the second class A,

and third class, boroughs, incorporated towns, townships of

the first and second classes including those within a county

of the second class and counties of the second through eighth

classes, individually or jointly, to plan their development

and to govern the same by zoning, subdivision and land

development ordinances, planned residential development and

other ordinances, by official maps, by the reservation of

certain land for future public purpose and by the acquisition

of such land; to promote the conservation of energy through

the use of planning practices and to promote the effective

utilization of renewable energy sources; providing for the

establishment of planning commissions, planning departments,

planning committees and zoning hearing boards, authorizing

them to charge fees, make inspections and hold public

hearings; providing for mediation; providing for transferable

development rights; providing for appropriations, appeals to

courts and penalties for violations; and repealing acts and

parts of acts," providing for interpretation of subdivision

and land development ordinances; and further providing for

approval of plats, for jurisdiction, for time limitations and

for procedure to obtain preliminary opinion.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1.  The act of July 31, 1968 (P.L.805, No.247), known

as the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, reenacted and

amended December 21, 1988 (P.L.1329, No.170), is amended by

adding a section to read:

Section 507.1.  Interpretation of Ordinance Provisions.--In

interpreting the language of subdivision and land development

ordinances, the language shall be interpreted, where doubt

exists as to the intended meaning of the language written and

adopted by the governing body, in favor of the property owner

and against any implied extension or application of the

provisions of the ordinance.

Section 2.  Sections 508(4)(vi), 909.1(b)(3), 914.1 and 916.2

of the act are amended to read:

Section 508.  Approval of Plats.--All applications for

approval of a plat (other than those governed by Article VII),

whether preliminary or final, shall be acted upon by the

governing body or the planning agency within such time limits as

may be fixed in the subdivision and land development ordinance

but the governing body or the planning agency shall render its

decision and communicate it to the applicant not later than 90

days following the date of the regular meeting of the governing

body or the planning agency (whichever first reviews the

application) next following the date the application is filed or

after a final order of court remanding an application, provided

that should the said next regular meeting occur more than 30

days following the filing of the application or the final order

of the court, the said 90-day period shall be measured from the

30th day following the day the application has been filed.

* * *

(4)  Changes in the ordinance shall affect plats as

follows:

* * *

(vi)  Each section in any residential subdivision or

land development, except for the last section, shall

contain a minimum of [25%] 20% of the total number of

dwelling units as depicted on the preliminary plan,

unless a lesser percentage is approved by the governing

body in its discretion. Provided the landowner has not

defaulted with regard to or violated any of the

conditions of the preliminary plat approval, including

compliance with landowner's aforesaid schedule of

submission of final plats for the various sections, then

the aforesaid protections afforded by substantially

completing the improvements depicted upon the final plat

within five years shall apply and for any section or

sections, beyond the initial section, in which the

required improvements have not been substantially

completed within said five-year period the aforesaid

protections shall apply for an additional term or terms

of three years from the date of final plat approval for

each section.

* * *

Section 909.1.  Jurisdiction.--* * *

(b)  The governing body or, except as to clauses (3), (4) and

(5), the planning agency, if designated, shall have exclusive

jurisdiction to hear and render final adjudications in the

following matters:

* * *

(3)  Applications for conditional use under the express

provisions of the zoning ordinance pursuant to section 603(c)

(2)[.], which jurisdiction shall include the power to

consider requested relief in the nature of a variance,

related and subordinate to the use for which conditional use

approval is sought.

* * *

Section 914.1.  Time Limitations.--(a)  No person shall be

allowed to file any proceeding with the board later than 30 days

after an application for development, preliminary or final, has

been approved by an appropriate municipal officer, agency or

body if such proceeding is designed to secure reversal or to

limit the approval in any manner unless such person alleges and

proves that he had no notice, knowledge, or reason to believe

that such approval had been given. If such person has succeeded

to his interest after such approval, he shall be bound by the

knowledge of his predecessor in interest. The failure of anyone

other than the landowner to appeal from an adverse decision on a

tentative plan pursuant to section 709 [or from an adverse

decision by a zoning officer on a challenge to the validity of

an ordinance or map] shall preclude an appeal from a final

approval except in the case where the final submission

substantially deviates from the plan given tentative approval.

The failure of anyone other than the landowner to appeal from a

preliminary opinion of a zoning officer rendered pursuant to

section 916.2 shall preclude an appeal from [a final approval

except in the case where the final submission substantially

deviates from the approved tentative approval.] the issuance of

a zoning permit or from a preliminary or final subdivision or

land development plan approval on any basis which was the

subject of the zoning officer's preliminary opinion.

(b)  All appeals from determinations adverse to the

landowners shall be filed by the landowner within 30 days after

notice of the determination is issued.

Section 916.2.  Procedure to Obtain Preliminary Opinion.--In

order not to unreasonably delay the time when a landowner may

secure assurance that the proposed use or development complies

with the ordinance or map under which he [proposed] proposes to

build and is free from challenge, and recognizing that the

procedure for preliminary approval of his development may be too

cumbersome or may be unavailable, the landowner may advance the

date from which time for any challenge to the ordinance [or], 

map or proposed use will run under section 914.1 by the

following procedure:

(1)  The landowner may submit plans and other materials

describing his proposed use or development to the zoning

officer for a preliminary opinion, which shall be a

determination, as to their compliance with the applicable

ordinances and maps. Such plans and other materials shall not

be required to meet the standards prescribed for preliminary,

tentative or final approval or for the issuance of a building

permit so long as they provide reasonable notice of the

proposed use or development and a sufficient basis for a

preliminary opinion as to its compliance.

(2)  The zoning officer shall issue a written preliminary

opinion no later than 45 days after receipt of a written

request for preliminary opinion. If the zoning officer's

preliminary opinion is that the use or development complies

with the ordinance or map, notice thereof shall be published

once each week for two successive weeks in a newspaper of

general circulation in the municipality. Such notice shall

include a general description of the proposed use or

development and its location, by some readily identifiable

directive, and the place and times where the plans and other

materials may be examined by the public. [The favorable

preliminary approval under section 914.1 and the time therein

specified for commencing a proceeding with the board shall

run from the time when the second notice thereof has been

published] The time period specified in section 914.1 for an

appeal from a favorable preliminary opinion issued under this

section shall run from the date of the second publication of

notice of the preliminary opinion.

Section 3.  This act shall take effect in 60 days.